Duo's Love
by Mizaya
Summary: Romantic one-shot focusing on an important step in Duo and Hilde's relationship, and the history of their love. Rated for language.


Disclaimer: Gundam Wing and all characters belong to all their rightful owners, which obviously I am not one of. If I were, I certainly wouldn't be writing this. I'd be sitting back on a beach in Tahiti sipping a margarita.

A/N: Okay, here's my first try at a GW fic. Just a little Duo and Hilde one-shot. Be warned that it's dreadfully fluffy. I think my angst muse went on vacation. Reviews are welcome and appreciated.

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Centering the flower vase on the table, Duo stood back to admire his handiwork. He wanted everything to be perfect tonight, and Hilde would be home any minute, bouncing through the front door with groceries in her arms as usual. They had made a quaint little life for themselves after the war, living on the modest income from their shop and trying to set their new house in order.

It was strange to go from being a universal symbol of rebellion to being an average Joe, living from paycheck to paycheck with only a little supplement from Preventer work, but Duo managed. He would do anything to make sure Hilde was comfortable and never in need of anything. Taking care of her had become his new mission in life, although he still couldn't believe how much he had changed. Even when they were friends, during the war, he hadn't put too much consideration into their relationship. She was just the girl that he couldn't help but be nice to, who made his day a little bit brighter. But hearing her voice over the intercom in Deathscythe Hell that day had changed everything.

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Duo's heart lurched. He knew that voice, the urgent, determined voice that shuddered through his eardrums and registered in his brain. A tiny, cherub-like face popped into his mind, devilish smirk and all. Then she called out his name and he snapped. It was Hilde, and she needed help. So he went to her, saved her, put his own life on the line and fought with everything he had to keep her from further harm. Each cry of pain that she let out felt like a dagger twisting in his gut. 

When it was over, when the Vayate and Mercurius dolls were demolished, he had a horrible gnawing terror that she was gone, but she had answered his call, still joking with him after everything she had gone through, for him. He would never be as strong as she was, or as stupid. The damn girl had almost bitten the dust! She was such an idiot!

After that, Duo couldn't help wanting to be with her at all costs. The war ended and he was able to go to her, to see if she was getting better from her battery. At the time he didn't know what his emotions were telling him specifically, just that she was important and that he didn't want to be without her ever again. Having her at his side was natural and reassuring. And those looks she gave him! He was admittedly a pretty happy-go-lucky fellow, but something was different in the way he viewed her, like everything went fuzzy except for her face when she was around. 

Snorting at his sentimentality, he plopped himself down on the couch and picked up a magazine off the table. His mind was turning to mush and he knew Hilde hated that crap. She had once told him that if he tried getting 'all sappy' on her one more time that she was going to make him wear pink. That was another fond memory, but it made him a little concerned that what he was planning for the evening might fall under that category.

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Signing the last of the forms, Hilde laughed radiantly and grabbed Duo around the waist in a friendly hug. "Oh Duo, I can't believe it worked out. I've always wanted my own business."

"Yeah, and you'll be a shark, I'm sure. 'Watch out for Hilde Schbeiker! She'll empty your wallet with a smile!'" he mocked, squeezing her shoulder.

"Duo!" Her sharp playful jab to his ribs made him grunt.

In reality, he had always wanted his own business, too. Preferably one that involved a lot of hands-on greasy work, and as it turned out that suited Hilde fine. Signing those last papers had been the final step, other than mailing them to the bank, but essentially they were done. They had a shop with a small house attached and everything seemed to be working out in their favor. Now he had a tiny but feisty girl that he loved and life was good. Except, of course, that the girl had no idea that he loved her. 

That was a whole other topic. He had known for a while how he felt, but actually forming the words was hard as hell. What if she didn't love him back? What if this ruined the best friendship that he had ever had? What if he lost everything because he couldn't ever keep his big mouth closed? 

Each day that went by just made it worse. He found himself fantasizing about the most mundane things, like her towel drying her short hair, or tripping over the same stair every morning, or nodding off while the evening news was on. He didn't even have to think up theoretical situations in his head; the things that she did on her own were more than enough to give her a home in his heart. And now she was plastered to his side, and he didn't know if it was because she returned his feelings or if she was really just that elated about buying a dirty old junkyard. Either way he couldn't keep things hidden any longer. "I love you, Hilde," he blurted out.

Hilde pulled slightly away from his chest to look up at him searchingly. When she saw that he wasn't kidding around, her smile faded, replaced by a more serious expression. "I-I love you, too, Duo."

Brain cells malfunctioned and Duo bent down to catch her lips before his mind fully registered what he was doing. All it took was to hear those words back for his body to act, to caress her mouth with his own and show her that he was telling the truth. Finally, his mind caught up with him and he pushed her away as if her kiss was poisoned. "Hilde, what am I doing? I can't believe I did that!" He turned away and grabbed his forehead with his hand, scowling at his actions. "I'm such a dumb bastard," he ground out. "I'm sorry, Hilde."

A poke at the spot on his side that was tender from earlier made him wince. He moved his eyes to see her angry expression. "What the hell was that, Duo? Was the kiss that bad?" She stood with her weight on one hip, arms crossed stiffly.

"No, it's not like that, Hilde, I didn't mean-"

"Shut up!" she interrupted. "Either you love me or you don't, Duo."

His head came up and he shook his head at her quizzically. "I do love you." He pried her arms away from her body so he could clasp her hands and sink down onto his knees. "I know I'm just a goofy loser who has no purpose now that the war is over, but I really do love you, and I'll do anything you want to prove it."

Without warning, Hilde snatched her hands out of his and reached behind him to drag him back to his feet by his braid. "Duo, you may be goofy, but your not a loser, and if running this place with me has no purpose then you're a bigger jerk than I thought. I love you, too, but if you ever act all sappy like that again, I'll…I'll make sure your shop uniform is pink!" Then she pulled his braid in a different direction, back towards her mouth for a kiss, and after that she dragged him upstairs to the bedroom by it, as well.

Duo's only comment afterwards was, "Hilde, if you keep that up, I'm gonna be bald by next week."

He suddenly realized that he had been staring at the same page in the magazine for ten minutes, and he still had no idea what it said. If he kept up his air-headedness, Hilde would turn him down for sure. As if his thoughts summoned her, he heard her key turning in the doorknob. This was it. Duo threw the magazine down and ran to the door to open it for her. "Hey, Hon, how were your errands?"

She eyed him askance as she tossed her keys and hat on the foyer table and swung the door shut with her hip. "What's up with you? You're grinning like a nut." Duo only smiled and leaned down to give her a quick peck. "You gonna take the groceries or what?"

The dazed look in Duo's violet eyes faded and he nodded clumsily, taking the groceries and moving to the kitchen. "Oh, where'd the flowers come from?" she yelled to him, removing her knitted scarf and draping it over the chair. "Hey! You actually cleaned up for once in your life. What did I do to deserve that?" Hilde surveyed the spotless room, stunned.

"Don't sit down!" Duo instructed as he returned to the room. 

Hilde was giving him a very puzzled look, noticeably observing his nervous fidgeting from foot to foot. "What's gotten into you today? Did someone put itching powder in your shoes?"

Duo shook his head and answered her first question. "The flowers are for you, Babe. I can't arrange them right, though. You wanna give it a try?"

"No, that's okay. They look fine to me. Thank you for them." Hilde still couldn't understand what was wrong with him. He reminded her of a kid on Christmas morning waiting to open presents.

He skittered over until he was at her side, urging her towards the flowers. "No, really, Hilde. Go fix 'em for me, please. I want 'em to be perfect."

She could tell that he wasn't going to give up, so she decided with a pat on his head to indulge his ridiculous request. She approached the flowers and reached to move a few of them around. "Are you going to stand over my shoulder like that the whole time?" she asked, getting a little annoyed at his weirdness. Maybe traces of mercury in junk parts had given him Mad Hatter's disease. Just what she needed. He was already a big lovable pain in her ass without neurosis added to the equation.

"Oh, uh, sorry," he mumbled and rounded the table to stare at her face. 

Hilde sighed and went back to the flowers. They were quite beautiful, all tropical in various shapes and sizes. A giant bird of paradise stuck out in the middle, it's vibrant orange petals looking like a beak. For some reason it was drooping, almost like the flower was too heavy for the stem. She tried to rest it on the leaves of an orchid next to it, but as she did something shiny fell out of the beak and onto the table with a _thunk_. Hilde just gaped at it. "Duo, look at that! Do you think the florist lost her ring in the flowers? Oh, no! Where did you get these flowers? We should go return it."

Duo just giggled. Giggled! What the….

"Oh, my god!" Hilde whispered. "Is this a…is this what I think it is?" She picked up the ring and was immediately dazzled by the generously sized diamond.

Coming back to stand behind her, Duo embraced her and carefully slid the ring onto her finger. "Hilde," he said trembling into her ear. "Will you marry me?"

Hilde squirmed in his grip and threw her arms around his neck. "You big oaf!" She laughed giddily and jumped up, straddling his hips with her legs so he was forced to support her weight.

Duo stepped back from the table so he could swing her around and kiss her confused expression away. "I love you," he said as he set her back down.

"I love you, too, but how did you manage to buy this thing? It's huge!"

Flicking her nose with his knuckle, he rumbled with laughter. "Uh uh, that's my secret. Let's just say I haven't been having as much fun with the guys as you thought." He braced his stomach as she smacked him in good humor. Duo smiled, thinking that all those extra hours doing Preventer work at night were more than worth the priceless look on her face. He would put up with any amount of Wufei's attitude to make her look so cute. "So that's a yes, then?"

"Of course it is!" she said in a genuine tone. "I thought you'd never ask." Hilde laid her head against Duo's chest and let him hold her. Something told them both that life was about to get even better.

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-The End-


End file.
